PLANETS ALIGN THIS WEEKEND: The Moon, Venus, and Jupiter are lining up in the eastern sky this weekend--right in the middle of the Perseid meteor shower. It's a must-see event. A new ScienceCast video from NASA previews the display.

PERSEID METEOR SHOWER: The annual Perseid meteor shower is underway. International observers are reporting 15+ meteors per hour in pre-dawn skies as Earth enters a broad stream of debris from parent comet Swift-Tuttle. The shower has been building since late July. Over the past two weeks, NASA's All-Sky Meteor Network has recorded more than 57 Perseid fireballs. Their orbits are shown here, with Earth's position marked in red:

The show is about to get much better. Earth will pass through the heart of the debris stream on the nights of August 11th through 13th, boosting meteor rates beyond 100 per hour. Forecasters say the best time to look is probably during the dark hours before sunrise on Sunday, August 12th.www.spaceweather.com